A Northland man who had been repairing Queensland roads damaged in floods in 2010 and 2011 has been stranded in Bundaberg as a result of ex-cyclone Oswald.

Footage from the police Taser gun allegedly used by a woman against a Northland policeman during a vicious assault is now being used as potential evidence against the attackers.

A mob attack on a Waikato policeman on Christmas Day came soon after another two police officers were hospitalised following a brutal attack in Dargaville.

A woman allegedly used a brick as a weapon and tried to shoot a police officer with his own taser in a brutal attack by a group of youths on Christmas Day.

The driver of a Fonterra milk tanker was killed yesterday when his truck crashed into a drain near Dargaville. The man died at the scene, said Northland fire service spokesperson Tania Matthews.

A man who sexually violated a 73-year-old Dargaville woman in her home, dressed in some of her clothes and beat her up has been sentenced to nine years in jail.

A 22-year-old man is dead and three others seriously injured after an overloaded car lost control and landed in a ditch in Northland early this morning.

Eight elderly people who were injured when their van rolled in Northland have been discharged from hospital tonight. An elderly woman was killed in the crash.

Dargaville and the southern Kauri Coast are often overlooked but as Cate Foster finds, the region has hidden charms.